Johnny Arthur
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Johnny Arthur (John Lennox Arthur Williams) (May 20, 1883 - 31 December 1951) was a stage and motion picture actor.
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[edit] Career
[edit] Early years
Born in Scottdale, Pennsylvania, Arthur was a veteran of twenty-five years on stage before he made his screen debut in 1923's The Unknown Purple. Arthur's screen personality was nebulous enough to allow him to play the romantic lead in the Lon Chaney vehicle The Monster (1925).
[edit] Talkie era
With the coming of sound, Arthur developed his first comedic image, a limp-wristed, ultra-effeminate "Nancy Boy" in films such as The Desert Song and Penrod and Sam. When the Production Code took effect on July 1, 1934, the "pansy" characters played by Arthur were banned from all Hollywood movies. He spent the rest of the 1930s playing fussy, long-suffering wimps, albeit certifiably "masculine roles". This new character served him well in low budget films like The Ghost Walks, The Natzy Nuisance and Danger on the Air, as well as big budget pictures like Crime and Punishment and Road to Singapore.
Arthur is perhaps most remembered for his appearances as Darla Hood's father in Hal Roach's Our Gang shorts. Most of his later roles were unbilled bits, with the notable exception of the 1942 serial The Masked Marvel. Unable to find film work in the last years of his life, Johnny Arthur died of heart disease at the age of sixty-eight at the Motion Picture Country Home.
[edit] Filmography
- The Unknown Purple (1923)
- Mademoiselle Midnight (1924)
- Daring Love (1924)
- The Monster (1925)
- The Tourist (1925)
- Cleaning Up (1925)
- Open House (1926)
- My Stars (1926)
- Home Cured (1926)
- Honest Injun (1926)
- The Humdinger (1926)
- Close Shaves (1926)
- Wedding Yells (1927)
- The Draw-Back (1927)
- Her Husky Hero (1927)
- Live News (1927)
- Scared Silly (1927)
- Wildcat Valley (1928)
- Visitors Welcome (1928)
- Blondes Beware (1928)
- Wedded Blisters (1928)
- On Trial (1928)
- The Eligible Mr. Bangs (1929)
- The Desert Song (1929)
- Hot Lemonade (1929)
- The Gamblers (1929)
- Lovers' Delight (1929)
- Divorce Made Easy (1929)
- A Hint to Brides (1929)
- Adam's Eve (1929)
- The Show of Shows (1929) .
- The Aviator (1929)
- Paper Hanging with Johnny Arthur (1930)
- Personality (1930)
- She Couldn't Say No (1930)
- Scrappily Married (1930)
- Down with Husbands (1930)
- Cheer Up and Smile (1930)
- Going Wild (1930)
- It's a Wise Child (1931)
- Penrod and Sam (1931)
- Should Crooners Marry (1933)
- Easy Millions (1933)
- Convention City (1933)
- Hell in Heaven (1934)
- Twenty Million Sweethearts (1934)
- Many Happy Returns (1934)
- Dames (1934)
- The Ghost Walks (1934)
- Hell in the Heavens (1934)
- Anniversary Trouble (1935)
- Traveling Saleslady (1935)
- Doubting Thomas (1935)
- It's in the Air (1935)
- Crime and Punishment (1935)
- Too Tough to Kill (1935)
- The Bride Comes Home (1935)
- Freshman Love (1936)
- The Murder of Dr. Harrigan (1936)
- All-American Toothache (1936)
- The King Steps Out (1936)
- Stage Struck (1936)
- Ellis Island (1936)
- Under Cover of Night (1937)
- It Happened Out West (1937)
- Pick a Star (1937)
- Night 'n' Gales (1937)
- Make a Wish (1937)
- Something to Sing About (1937)
- Blossoms on Broadway (1937)
- Amateur Crook (1937) (uncredited)
- Exiled to Shanghai (1937)
- Feed 'em and Weep (1938)
- Half-way to Hollywood (1938)
- Danger on the Air (1938)
- Road to Singapore (1940)
- Jeepers Creepers (1939)
- Li'l Abner (1940)
- Road Show (1941)
- Mountain Moonlight (1941)
- Shepherd of the Ozarks (1942)
- A Desperate Chance for Ellery Queen (1942)
- The Nazty Nuisance (1943)
- The Masked Marvel (1943)
- It Happened on 5th Avenue (1947)
- I Want You {1951}
